Jesus Christ. Son of God. The Messiah. Called his followers to pick up their cross, die to their selves, and follow him, living a life that is others focused. Giver of eternal life.
Narcissus. Son of a Greek god. Self centered. Treated others with disdain, especially anyone who loved him. Fell in love with his reflection in a pool of water and couldn't tear himself away. Died.
We live in a narcissistic culture. We have been told to look out for number one, and that the greatest love is a love for oneself. Even acts of altruism are many times done because of how good it makes us feel. We are encouraged to make sure we get what we want out of life, whether that be career success, fame, love, or just being happy. Advertisers make millions because they can convince us that we need the newest product to make our lives complete. We in the church look at the culture and say, "Boy those folks sure are selfish."
What is sad is that there is a narcissistic Christianity that has infected the church. Jesus has gone from being our "personal Savior," to someone who will give us whatever we think we need. In Jesus Manifesto, Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola noted that at the beginning of the twenty-first century the majority of the 100 top selling Christian books were focused on the personal and private. 6 books were about the Bible, 4 were about Jesus, and 3 were about evangelism. The other 87 were essentially "self help" books. If you look at the titles in any Christian bookstore, you can learn how to have your best life now where every day is a Friday, you can find out how to be a king in your own personal kingdom and have dominion over everything that comes your way, or you can find out to be a better (fill in the blank). If you watch Christian television, you can find out how to increase your finances by giving to any one of a bunch of ministries. Sounds kind of like the lottery to me. There was even a preacher on one program telling folks how to get what they wanted from God, comparing the ruler of the universe to a fast food restaurant! It's all about us!
Jesus calls us to something far different. He calls us to live as he lived. Instead of an inward focus, Jesus lived with an outward focus. His first focus was his Father. Jesus stated that he did nothing but what the Father told him, and that he came to do the Father's will. His other focus was on those who needed love and grace. Pretty much everyone. Jesus' mission was to redeem those who were in need of redemption. He went around doing good, forgiving sins, healing, and loving. He loved the Father, and us, so much that he died a shameful death in the most agonizing way known to that day. He was the sacrifice that did what we could never do, reconcile us with God. That death, taken for others, brought us life. We who follow Jesus are called to the same kind of life. A life that is focused first on loving God, and then on loving others as Jesus loved us. It is a sacrificial life, a life that gives up, a life that wins by losing. How well do you think that title would do in the market?
Christ or Narcissus? One died because he couldn't get his focus off himself. The other calls us to come and die, and find that we may truly live.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Monday, July 8, 2013
Friday, November 30, 2012
The Prodigal Son: The Younger Son
Today, I'm starting a three part series on the story of the Prodigal Son. The story of the prodigal is a story of God's grace to his wayward children when they come home. It is also a story with a number of layers that speak to us in different ways at different times in our lives. Henri Nouwen wrote a book titled, The Return of the Prodigal Son, based on his reflections on a painting by Rembrandt. My ramblings come largely from reading this book.
The first person we encounter in the story is the younger son. This son comes to his father and asks for his part of the inheritance that would come to him after his father dies. This is more than just a request to get money due him earlier than he would normally receive it. The ones who heard this story would have been outraged at the attitude of the younger son. In effect, he was saying to his father, "I reject you and everything you stand for, your culture, your religion, everything. I wish you were dead!" In a culture where rebellious children could be stoned to death, this was a dangerous and devastating statement for the son to make and for the father to hear. The father however, decided to give his son what he asked for. He handed over the money and said goodbye. As a father, I can imagine the heartbreak he went through as one of his sons turned his back on everything and left.
The younger son went off to a "distant country," where he squandered his inheritance on parties and whores. He was completely deaf to the voice that would have reminded him of his father's love and of what he had been taught. In short, he forgot who he was. I would imagine that most of us can see ourselves in the younger son in some way. Some may have wandered into a life of dissipation and come out of it. Others may have experimented with some things but not gone all the way in. In my own life, I was drawn in to things that were not good for me, although I never wandered completely away. Of course, there are some out there who would consider me a prodigal today.
There is another way to be the younger son, a way that many, many more have fallen into. That is the way of forgetting whose child we are and trying to get our identity from other things or other people. That is the way I most identify with the prodigal. Whether it's from a job, a skill, a style, or a group of people, we try to prove our worth by other things than what our Father says. Our culture says that what is important is how you dress, what job you have, what kind of car you drive, how much money you make, or what group you hang out with. Unfortunately, those things become like the husks the prodigal wished to eat while feeding the pigs. Trying to find our worth and identity in any thing of this world is a futile exercise, leading to emptiness.
Fortunately for the prodigal, he did come to his senses and remember who he was. I can see him slapping himself on the forehead, and saying, "What am I doing here? I'm not a pig farmer! I'm a son of a father who has a lot of money and food! Why am I starving here?" So, after coming to his senses he returned home. He still didn't completely remember who we was though. Or better, he didn't understand completely the kind of person his father was. His plan was to go home and convince his father to give him a job. He didn't believe his father would accept him back as a son. We sometimes also forget who we are dealing with when we go to our Father. We believe the lies that we can't be his child if we do certain things, or that we have to do something to get ourselves back into his good graces. We feel we have to "get right with God." We forget that our Father loves us and always accepts us.
The son returns and finds himself in the midst of a homecoming better than he could have imagined. He can't get his prepared speech out before his father welcomes him back and throws the biggest party the neighborhood has ever seen. So it is when we come to our senses and remember who we are. We are beloved children of the Creator of the universe. He is pleased with us, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to cause his love to decrease, and nothing we can do to increase his love. He holds us in his hands and nothing can pull us out. Period.
Remember who you are. If you've forgotten, your Father is looking for your return so he can lavish his grace and love on you.
The first person we encounter in the story is the younger son. This son comes to his father and asks for his part of the inheritance that would come to him after his father dies. This is more than just a request to get money due him earlier than he would normally receive it. The ones who heard this story would have been outraged at the attitude of the younger son. In effect, he was saying to his father, "I reject you and everything you stand for, your culture, your religion, everything. I wish you were dead!" In a culture where rebellious children could be stoned to death, this was a dangerous and devastating statement for the son to make and for the father to hear. The father however, decided to give his son what he asked for. He handed over the money and said goodbye. As a father, I can imagine the heartbreak he went through as one of his sons turned his back on everything and left.
The younger son went off to a "distant country," where he squandered his inheritance on parties and whores. He was completely deaf to the voice that would have reminded him of his father's love and of what he had been taught. In short, he forgot who he was. I would imagine that most of us can see ourselves in the younger son in some way. Some may have wandered into a life of dissipation and come out of it. Others may have experimented with some things but not gone all the way in. In my own life, I was drawn in to things that were not good for me, although I never wandered completely away. Of course, there are some out there who would consider me a prodigal today.
There is another way to be the younger son, a way that many, many more have fallen into. That is the way of forgetting whose child we are and trying to get our identity from other things or other people. That is the way I most identify with the prodigal. Whether it's from a job, a skill, a style, or a group of people, we try to prove our worth by other things than what our Father says. Our culture says that what is important is how you dress, what job you have, what kind of car you drive, how much money you make, or what group you hang out with. Unfortunately, those things become like the husks the prodigal wished to eat while feeding the pigs. Trying to find our worth and identity in any thing of this world is a futile exercise, leading to emptiness.
Fortunately for the prodigal, he did come to his senses and remember who he was. I can see him slapping himself on the forehead, and saying, "What am I doing here? I'm not a pig farmer! I'm a son of a father who has a lot of money and food! Why am I starving here?" So, after coming to his senses he returned home. He still didn't completely remember who we was though. Or better, he didn't understand completely the kind of person his father was. His plan was to go home and convince his father to give him a job. He didn't believe his father would accept him back as a son. We sometimes also forget who we are dealing with when we go to our Father. We believe the lies that we can't be his child if we do certain things, or that we have to do something to get ourselves back into his good graces. We feel we have to "get right with God." We forget that our Father loves us and always accepts us.
The son returns and finds himself in the midst of a homecoming better than he could have imagined. He can't get his prepared speech out before his father welcomes him back and throws the biggest party the neighborhood has ever seen. So it is when we come to our senses and remember who we are. We are beloved children of the Creator of the universe. He is pleased with us, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to cause his love to decrease, and nothing we can do to increase his love. He holds us in his hands and nothing can pull us out. Period.
Remember who you are. If you've forgotten, your Father is looking for your return so he can lavish his grace and love on you.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given
At the camp I drive for during the summer, we hold a weekly study for the staff. This summer we are looking at Life of the Beloved, by Henri Nouwen. In this book, Nouwen writes about four words that have helped him identify the movements of the Spirit in his life. Nouwen's idea is that as followers of Jesus we are bread for the world, therefore we are taken, blessed, broken, and given, as the bread during communion. As I read the explanation of these words, I am finding them helpful in my own walk. In this four part series, I am going to share some of my thoughts.
The first word is taken. You could substitute the word "chosen." We are chosen by God to be his beloved children. He has become our Father, and he is pleased with his children. As Nouwen states:
Unfortunately, we live in a world that tells us that we are nothing, that there is nothing special about us. Those voices bombard us constantly, from advertisements that tell us we must have the latest (fill in the blank) in order to be happy and fulfilled, to preachers who tell us how far short we fall and how much harder we need to work. Those voices do not come from our Father. They come from our Enemy who seeks to steal our joy, kill our spirits, and destroy our lives.
Nouwen gives three ways we can stay in touch with our chosenness. The first is to keep unmasking the world around us for what it is. The world is full of manipulation and destruction. It's prevailing wisdom is to step on anyone and everyone in the climb up the ladder. When we feel hurt or rejected, we should recognize those feelings, but also recognize that they are not the truth about ourselves. The truth is that the Father loves us with an everlasting love, and has chosen us to be his children.
The second way is to look for people and places where our chosenness is affirmed. These people and places will not be perfect, but as Nouwen writes,
"The limited, sometimes broken, love of those who share our humanity can often point us to the truth of who we are: precious in God's eyes."
We need each other, and we need to affirm in each other the precious, beloved children that we are.
The third way is to celebrate our chosenness constantly. We are to be grateful to the Father for choosing us, and grateful to those who remind us of our chosenness. We need to be careful, because occasions for gratitude can also be occasions for cynicism, for questioning motives, even for bitterness. We must guard against this and consciously choose to be grateful.
Rather than making us feel superior or more favored, claiming our chosenness will give us a great desire to help others recognize and claim their chosenness, their place as a beloved child of the Father. This is another reason we need to be in community with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can build up and encourage one another as we gather together as God's chosen, beloved children.
One final thought from Nouwen:
" It is only when we have claimed our own place in God's love that we can experience this all-embracing, noncomparing love and feel safe, not only with God, but also with all our brothers and sisters."
The first word is taken. You could substitute the word "chosen." We are chosen by God to be his beloved children. He has become our Father, and he is pleased with his children. As Nouwen states:
"Our preciousness, uniqueness, and individuality are not given to us by those who meet us
in clock-time -- our brief chronological existence -- but by the One who has chosen us
with an everlasting love, a love that existed from all eternity and will last through all eternity."
Unfortunately, we live in a world that tells us that we are nothing, that there is nothing special about us. Those voices bombard us constantly, from advertisements that tell us we must have the latest (fill in the blank) in order to be happy and fulfilled, to preachers who tell us how far short we fall and how much harder we need to work. Those voices do not come from our Father. They come from our Enemy who seeks to steal our joy, kill our spirits, and destroy our lives.
Nouwen gives three ways we can stay in touch with our chosenness. The first is to keep unmasking the world around us for what it is. The world is full of manipulation and destruction. It's prevailing wisdom is to step on anyone and everyone in the climb up the ladder. When we feel hurt or rejected, we should recognize those feelings, but also recognize that they are not the truth about ourselves. The truth is that the Father loves us with an everlasting love, and has chosen us to be his children.
The second way is to look for people and places where our chosenness is affirmed. These people and places will not be perfect, but as Nouwen writes,
"The limited, sometimes broken, love of those who share our humanity can often point us to the truth of who we are: precious in God's eyes."
We need each other, and we need to affirm in each other the precious, beloved children that we are.
The third way is to celebrate our chosenness constantly. We are to be grateful to the Father for choosing us, and grateful to those who remind us of our chosenness. We need to be careful, because occasions for gratitude can also be occasions for cynicism, for questioning motives, even for bitterness. We must guard against this and consciously choose to be grateful.
Rather than making us feel superior or more favored, claiming our chosenness will give us a great desire to help others recognize and claim their chosenness, their place as a beloved child of the Father. This is another reason we need to be in community with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can build up and encourage one another as we gather together as God's chosen, beloved children.
One final thought from Nouwen:
" It is only when we have claimed our own place in God's love that we can experience this all-embracing, noncomparing love and feel safe, not only with God, but also with all our brothers and sisters."
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Repost: More
This was originally posted on January 4, 2008.
It's another day, so I'll continue my story.
About three years ago, God started doing some things in me that would change the way I saw life and ministry. Through a "chance" look at a magazine, I discovered TheOoze.com and immediately began to read the articles and enter into the discussions. I became aware that there were a lot of others out there that just didn't quite fit in the cubbyholes that "church" tried to put us in. I began to read authors outside of what I knew as mainstream Christianity people like Brian McLaren, Leonard Sweet, Phillip Yancey, Mike Yaconelli, John Fischer, Rob Bell, N.T. Wright, and others.
God began to show me that at least part of what I had been taught and believed was not Biblical, but was simply a part of the culture of mid to late twentieth century America. So, now my rebellious spirit had a legitimate focus. Now, I saw myself as sort of a "missionary to the fundamentalists". I began to teach some of these things to my middle school Bible classes. I tried to convey to them that Christianity is more than just mentally assenting to certain propositions and following certain rules. Hopefully some of them got it and will spread the subversiveness.
Unfortunately, this chapter in my life was to come to a rather abrupt end. The school decided to basically eliminate all the middle school teaching positions and give those classes to the high school teachers. They also decided to eliminate the athletic director position, and since I was both a middle school teacher and the athletic director, my contract was not removed.
More to come...
It's another day, so I'll continue my story.
About three years ago, God started doing some things in me that would change the way I saw life and ministry. Through a "chance" look at a magazine, I discovered TheOoze.com and immediately began to read the articles and enter into the discussions. I became aware that there were a lot of others out there that just didn't quite fit in the cubbyholes that "church" tried to put us in. I began to read authors outside of what I knew as mainstream Christianity people like Brian McLaren, Leonard Sweet, Phillip Yancey, Mike Yaconelli, John Fischer, Rob Bell, N.T. Wright, and others.
God began to show me that at least part of what I had been taught and believed was not Biblical, but was simply a part of the culture of mid to late twentieth century America. So, now my rebellious spirit had a legitimate focus. Now, I saw myself as sort of a "missionary to the fundamentalists". I began to teach some of these things to my middle school Bible classes. I tried to convey to them that Christianity is more than just mentally assenting to certain propositions and following certain rules. Hopefully some of them got it and will spread the subversiveness.
Unfortunately, this chapter in my life was to come to a rather abrupt end. The school decided to basically eliminate all the middle school teaching positions and give those classes to the high school teachers. They also decided to eliminate the athletic director position, and since I was both a middle school teacher and the athletic director, my contract was not removed.
More to come...
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A Peek Inside
While reading Wild at Heart this afternoon, I was struck by a particular passage where John Eldredge quoted Winston Churchill's statement that all his past life had been a preparation for the trials Britain was going through in World War II. Eldredge then went on to state, "The same is true of you, your whole life has been preparation."
This is what I wrote in response:
Father, is it true? Has all my life up to this point been preparation? For what? What is it that you want me to do that it has taken fifty five years of preparation? You have told me that I am a Gideon. I want so badly to be the kind of warrior who is willing to go up against insurmountable odds, armed only with your power. Let me be a clay jar, plain and unassuming, but a deadly weapon when filled with you. Gideon led others to freedom. That is what I want to do. I want to be an agent of your grace. I want to help others break away from the chains forged by the lies they believe. I want to be in the battle and watch what you will do.
I want to hear your voice in the midst of all the noise around me. I want to be dangerous, the kind of man who can't be labeled, who can't be controlled because he is doing what you tell him to do. I want to live abundantly, to love with abandon, to fight with every fiber of my being for the freedom for which you have set us free. I want to go when you say go, to fight when you say fight. I want to stop and watch you work and to rest when you tell me. I want people to take notice - of you, and the greatness of your grace.
This is what I wrote in response:
Father, is it true? Has all my life up to this point been preparation? For what? What is it that you want me to do that it has taken fifty five years of preparation? You have told me that I am a Gideon. I want so badly to be the kind of warrior who is willing to go up against insurmountable odds, armed only with your power. Let me be a clay jar, plain and unassuming, but a deadly weapon when filled with you. Gideon led others to freedom. That is what I want to do. I want to be an agent of your grace. I want to help others break away from the chains forged by the lies they believe. I want to be in the battle and watch what you will do.
I want to hear your voice in the midst of all the noise around me. I want to be dangerous, the kind of man who can't be labeled, who can't be controlled because he is doing what you tell him to do. I want to live abundantly, to love with abandon, to fight with every fiber of my being for the freedom for which you have set us free. I want to go when you say go, to fight when you say fight. I want to stop and watch you work and to rest when you tell me. I want people to take notice - of you, and the greatness of your grace.
Monday, January 10, 2011
A Good Book
I just finished reading Play Their Hearts Out by George Dohrmann. The book chronicles the experiences of AAU basketball players. The author was given unrestricted access to a team that began as a group of middle school players and documents the ups and downs of the young men as they go through the years, until their high school careers are finished.
Dohrmann writes about the good, the bad, and the ugly in the system of grassroots basketball. He tells of the influence of the shoe companies, the coaches who care about developing players, the coaches who use the players for their own ends, and the college programs who use the grassroots coaches to steer players their way. He pulls no punches when it comes to telling the story, while also being fair to those involved.
If you're a basketball fan, a casual observer, or if you're concerned with how young people are sometimes treated by adults, you might be interested in this book
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